Expanded bowl schedule should help twice-snubbed Middle Tennessee
- Thread starter SpaceRaider
- Start date
Going bowling just isn't what it used to be. I wish it would stop being talked about as if it's some gauge of success. In today's environment, you're more likely to go bowling than not so how the hell is it an accomplishment? According to that blog post, it will take 82 teams to fill all the bowl game requirements for 2015. I'm not up to date on the exact number of FBS schools this year but I'll estimate 130. With those figures, over 63% of all teams will end up in a bowl game!!!!!!
I believe it's time we find something else to gauge success. Over the last decade, I personally have not viewed "bowl eligibility" as an indicator of success......but with the way that word is thrown around in our program you'd think it's the end all be all and our primary goal each year.
How about a non-shared conference championship? When's the last time that happened?
How about double digit wins? We've done that how many times over the last 20 years?
Bowl eligibility isn't what it used to be, not even close. I wish people would stop talking about it like it's something special. "Bowl eligibility", in the current environment, should be a damn requirement to just keep your job, let alone get a contract extension.
/rant
I believe it's time we find something else to gauge success. Over the last decade, I personally have not viewed "bowl eligibility" as an indicator of success......but with the way that word is thrown around in our program you'd think it's the end all be all and our primary goal each year.
How about a non-shared conference championship? When's the last time that happened?
How about double digit wins? We've done that how many times over the last 20 years?
Bowl eligibility isn't what it used to be, not even close. I wish people would stop talking about it like it's something special. "Bowl eligibility", in the current environment, should be a damn requirement to just keep your job, let alone get a contract extension.
/rant
I don't take the bowls too seriously. I enjoy bowl season and many of the match ups that are there for me to watch. As long as teams have a winning record, I don't mind the "reward" of going bowling. Yes, the "bowl eligible" stuff spewing from the athletic department rubs me the wrong way. In my eyes, you either played in a bowl or you didn't, especially if you are 6-6. Not impressed with a .500 record. In my eyes, the more bowls the better, so long as teams with plus .500 records are playing in them.
" . . . ,so long as teams with plus .500 records are playing in them."
I can agree with that: not .500 but +.500. Bowls should be a reward for a "good" season. 6 and 6 is not a "good" season. And I would add one more qualification. Must be .500 or better in your conference. You choose to be there, you should be competitive in conference in order to go bowling regardless of how "strong" you conference is.
I can agree with that: not .500 but +.500. Bowls should be a reward for a "good" season. 6 and 6 is not a "good" season. And I would add one more qualification. Must be .500 or better in your conference. You choose to be there, you should be competitive in conference in order to go bowling regardless of how "strong" you conference is.
Anything that helps us get to more bowls, them so much the better. Postseason play, no matter how you get there, helps build a foundation for the future.
Not only that but come on, it's been made clear that non power 5 teams have no chance in heck in being considered for a real seat at the table. These bowls at least have us in some conversations. Also, I know people like to dogpile on Stock but name me a team in CUSA right now that has been bowl eligible 6 out of the last 9 seasons? If we're so damned mediocre, I want to know who else is right there with us in our league?
UNT - They can't say it.
UTEP - Nope, they aren't either
FIU - Um, no
FAU - Nope, They've had 3
WKU - Nope but they've had a nice last 4 seasons. Tied with Marshall.
Marshall - Cato gave them 2 awesome seasons, UM has had 4 BE seasons since 06
LaTech - off and on like a light switch. They've had 4.
Rice - 5 BE seasons since 06
Charlotte - nope, not even decent in FCS
ODU - too young
UAB - no way
UTSA - nope and they are still young
USM - They actually have 6. They are the only other ones in CUSA that can say it but in the last 3 years, they've won 4 games. We are 3-0 against them since 06 so give us the edge over them. Especially now. We are in a much better place than them right now.
In the SBC - ASU has 6, and ULL has 7
In the AAC - Cincy has 8, ECU has 8, UCF has 6, and Houston has 8.
In the MAC - Bowling Green has 6, CMU has 7, UNI has 8, Ohio does as well
In the MWC - Boise St has 9 and Nevada has 8
So out of all of the G5 teams, there are a total of 14 that were B.E. at least 6 out of the last 9 seasons. We are one of them. Only one other team in CUSA can say that. That's not too mediocre in my eyes. I would much rather be there than be in the other grouping.
Give us G5 teams more bowls. I'd rather watch us in one instead of someone else.
UNT - They can't say it.
UTEP - Nope, they aren't either
FIU - Um, no
FAU - Nope, They've had 3
WKU - Nope but they've had a nice last 4 seasons. Tied with Marshall.
Marshall - Cato gave them 2 awesome seasons, UM has had 4 BE seasons since 06
LaTech - off and on like a light switch. They've had 4.
Rice - 5 BE seasons since 06
Charlotte - nope, not even decent in FCS
ODU - too young
UAB - no way
UTSA - nope and they are still young
USM - They actually have 6. They are the only other ones in CUSA that can say it but in the last 3 years, they've won 4 games. We are 3-0 against them since 06 so give us the edge over them. Especially now. We are in a much better place than them right now.
In the SBC - ASU has 6, and ULL has 7
In the AAC - Cincy has 8, ECU has 8, UCF has 6, and Houston has 8.
In the MAC - Bowling Green has 6, CMU has 7, UNI has 8, Ohio does as well
In the MWC - Boise St has 9 and Nevada has 8
So out of all of the G5 teams, there are a total of 14 that were B.E. at least 6 out of the last 9 seasons. We are one of them. Only one other team in CUSA can say that. That's not too mediocre in my eyes. I would much rather be there than be in the other grouping.
Give us G5 teams more bowls. I'd rather watch us in one instead of someone else.
Being bowl eligible is literally the definition of mediocre, considering the threshold is 6-6.......so actually it doesn't surprise me (and its very fitting) that we've been bowl eligible for so many seasons. It's easy to generalize against the rest of our conference and other non-BCS conferences about being "bowl eligible" but you fail to mention that we've repeatedly played some of the easiest schedules in the country, making "bowl eligibility" a much easier thing for our school.
Instead of looking at all those other teams and conferences' bowl eligibility, why don't we look at a real indicator for success such as top 25 rankings, double digit wins, beating a top 25 team, outright conference championships.....where does MT fare in those? In the last decade, we've had one double digit win season, that's it. No outright championships, no top 25 rankings, and no beating of top 25 teams.
Mediocre, Mediocre, Mediocre
Well, it's better than being "Bad, Bad, Bad".
And if you want to get to "Good, Good, Good" you usually have to go through "Mediocre, Mediocre, Mediocre" to get there.
We've hashed this out before. No one is happy where we are, but that doesn't make blow it all up and start over the best option.
And you guys get too caught up in the "we're bowl eligible!" line being trumpeted by the AD. That's simply folks trying to market what they have. If the team goes 2-10, they're still going to send you stuff about how exciting the 2 wins were and how excited they were for the future. Just ignore it.
I'm telling you that if we were FIU, FAU, or fans of other teams in their boat , we wouldn't even be on the boards right now at all. There are a lot of teams that never have a shot of winning more than 3 games a season. All I'm saying is that if it was so damned mediocre and normal, you'd have a lot more teams being B.E. eligible as much or more than us. So I guess we aren't as mediocre as the other 49 teams who don't have that track record. Wiley, go ride another band wagon if you don't like it here. I don't get the constant whining about stuff we can't change. Seems awfully silly to me. It could always be worse.
Really man? We are going to toot the it could be worse horn? Man, no way. Not this season. If we can't get to a bowl then it is a big fat FAIL regardless if we are bowl eligible. I don't want to be FAU, FIU, or whoever.
Bull Doug. Nobody is getting caught up in bowl eligible. We are getting caught up in let down city. What I am caught up in is the fact that our coach got a raise for nothing last year and there was no bowl. It is put up or shut up time for this regime.
I've attended every modern day MT Bowl Game. While I believe Coach Stock is a class act; we must be in a Bowl Game at least 50% of the time if we are to grow and be successful. BE is nice but actually going to a bowl is the only means by which we get any Nashville Media much less National Media exposure. So, a bowl game in 2015 is critical!
I don't disagree with what you're saying. I'm dissappointed as anyone after last season.
The way I look at it, every time we have a good season, the staff earns a bit of equity. Every time we have a stinker (like last year), they burn a bit of it up. And if we have 2 seasons in a row like that, then maybe we do need to look at the direction of the program.
Unless you're Alabama and you just reload with 5-star after 5-star player, you're going to have a season every so often where the breaks don't go your way, and you miss going to a bowl by 3 points when you're first time starter QB's pass is tipped at the 7 and just happens to fall into the hands of a defender.
I think too many people look at building a college football program as a completely linear upwards line. It just doesn't work that way.
I think this is a reasonable standard - bowl in no less than 50% of seasons.
That said, we've gone twice in the last 5 years - and I refuse to punish the team/staff for not getting a bid in 2012 because we were flat out screwed by the Sunbelt.
There's a lot of reasons to be optimistic going into this season.
We've got a favorable schedule (alabama game excepted), Marshall is down. Vandy at Home. We've got a bunch of returning players and probably 2 of the best recruiting classes since we went DI-A starting to bear fruit.
7-8+ wins should be the expectation.
This really will be a very telling year for Stock. He's had, what, a decade now to get tailor things to his liking? We've got a favorable schedule with only 1 nearly-guaranteed loss. If betting lines for every game were released right now, we'd be favorites over Jackson State, Charlotte, Vanderbilt (game will be a pick), FIU, FAU, North Texas (small favorite), and UTSA. So a minimum of 7 wins should be required here, with 8+ wins being expected.
